The Edge of the Bluff

     We asked Faerieland’s finest Dark Faerie, Jhudora, for how she plans to while away the long hours as she notoriously refuses to give quests on Illusen Day and were quite surprised by how willing she was to share how she spent the day!

     “Well, I mostly find Illusen Day to be thoroughly sickening. All of that noise and racket for that know-it-all goody two-shoes Earth Faerie! You know, I don’t really consider us to be actual rivals, although everyone else does. Illusen is a bit beneath me and I can’t believe that everyone else keeps falling for her little act!”

     “In the morning, I typically sleep in a bit to get some extra beauty rest since I won’t have my loyal questers visiting all day long. My slumber was a bit disturbed last night though – it felt like my body knew this horrid day was coming up. It’s almost as if Illusen is even ruining my dreams! After I wake up, I eat a light breakfast of one of my decadent Jhudora Day Pastries, which I’m certain is far better than anything they have over in Meridell. Purple and green is such a better combination than brown and green, don’t you agree? Once I’m done eating, I make sure my Jhudora Jelly Lip Balm and Jhudora Eyeshadow are perfectly applied before running my Jhudora Brush through my hair a few more times. I’ll be having lunch with Lord Darigan today and it would be great if I could ruin the Illusen Day festivities a bit, but I must look my absolute best while doing so!”

     “Before I visit Lord Darigan, I do swing through Meridell to cause just a touch of chaos. I never want Illusen and all her silly little followers to feel too comfortable, so I zip through on my cloud and improve some of the posters and portraits of Illusen that have been hung up all over the place. I think they look MUCH better with my commentary and with Illusen wearing a variety of moustaches, devil horns, bunny ears, and other embarrassing looks! After I find a good spot to take cover, I watch for Illusen to pass by so I can see her reaction to my masterpieces. As I gaze upon her crestfallen face when she catches sight of the posters, I feel my heart almost beating out of my chest for fear that she might catch me in my hiding spot. My face reddens as she looks around casting searching glances for the culprit – hey, wait! Why are you looking at me like that!”

     Here, we took a brief break as Jhudora seemed to become annoyed with your illustrious reporters. Once she calmed down and we ensured that she had no plans to turn either of us into a blechy or a Mortog or whatever else she started yelling about, we continued.

     “Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, okay. Once I’m done with all of that, I head over to Darigan Citadel to take in a meal with Lord Darigan. I was so worked up from my earlier encounter with Illusen that I barely remember what we ate, but I’m sure he took excellent care of me. We have so much in common, you know. People just assume so much about us because of how we look and spread rumours about our evil deeds, but both of us are really just misunderstood! Lord Darigan did seem to be in a bad mood though; I sat there telling him so much about all the things I did to annoy Illusen and ruin her special day, and it was almost like he didn’t care at all? Normally he loves to chat about all the various and sundry sneaky plots we could come up with, but he snapped at me asking if I ever got tired of obsessing over Illusen. I got so mad that someone would insinuate that I was fixated on that goofy Earth Faerie that I stormed out of there! Who does Lord Darigan think he is?”

     “On my way back to Faerieland, I caught a glimpse of an Illusen Day celebration taking place in Illusen’s Glade. Figuring that a quick stop can’t hurt and might give me some more inspiration for ways to ruin her special day and more of her days to come. I hide behind some trees at the edge of the glade to spy, and seeing all those fans of Illusen come out of the woodwork to praise her name in the hopes of getting one of those lousy quest rewards she’s known for – who even wants a Leaf Shield in this day and age? Ugh, it disgusts me! I start plotting the best and most efficient ways that my most loyal servants can sabotage this little party for me later when I notice an eerie feeling. Looking up, I see her gaze meeting mine. With those green highlights in her hair, she’s unmistakable – the Illusen cosplayers are often better at looking like Illusen than she does! As Illusen stares at me, I start to feel terribly out of sorts and decide that it would be best to get away from her glade as quickly as possible – I can handle confrontation just fine, but there’s something about that Illusen that makes me horribly nervous! As I turn to leave, I check a few times as I flee to see if she was going to confront me and cause a scene in front of all of Meridell. Thankfully, she doesn’t, but Illusen doesn’t take her eyes off of me until I am completely gone and unable to be seen at all.”

     “Once I get back to my bluff, I just pick at my eyeball pasta during dinner. For some odd reason, I can’t focus on anything tonight and nothing can cheer me up, not even our most devoted Petpets! Thoughts swirl around in my brain in a jumbled, ceaseless muck – did I do enough to cause mischief on Illusen Day? Why was Illusen staring at me? Was she going to tell people about us? Eventually, I just give up on doing anything productive at all. Instead, I lie in bed until I fall asleep from pure exhaustion, which has absolutely nothing to do with Illusen and her silly little day at all!”

     After hearing how Jhudora spends Illusen Day, your intrepid reporters were quite shocked to discover that Jhudora, Illusen’s so-called nemesis, spends so much of her time thinking about Illusen with very little room for the negativity she shows to Illusen’s face. Might their storied relationship be more complicated than it seems?

     The End.